Tuesday, January 22, 2013

A is for Abel Armitage - Family History Through the Alphabet

Bless his heart, my great-great-grandfather Abel Armitage disappeared after 1881. No doubt he died and no doubt his wife and children mourned his passing and buried him. But they've been efficient in keeping both his death date and burial location a secret: here I am more than a hundred years later searching for the final link so I can draw a circle around Abel.

Below is what I've been able to learn from church, civil, and county records; city directories; and U.K. and U.S. Census records.

Birth
abt. 1821, Little Horton, West Riding Yorkshire, England

Baptism
October 21, 1821, St. Peter's Church (also known as Bradford Cathedral), Bradford, Yorkshire, England

6 comments:

Hello Nancy, and welcome to the Alphabet Challenge, it's a pleasure to have you come along.

I love this post on your great great grandfather Abel. I can see that you've done a whole heap of research on him, but just can't find that final piece to lay him to rest. I can understand what that's like my great grandpa was a seaman, an I've 'lost' him for 7 years. I had him before, and afterward, but I want to know what happened in between. And until I do it's unfinished.

You can't get more "A" than a double-A ancestor! I did a similar challenge last year but it was every day in April, called the A to Z April Challenge. It's open to all kinds of bloggers, not just genealogy. Lots of fun.

Wendy, I'll have to go back and take another look at some of your posts for that challenge. I have to say, I'm definitely feeling like this is going to be a "challenge!" Trying to figure out how to write that post took me a while....

First, this is a fun challeng. I've been developing a list for my own family history. Secondly, I know/share your frustration. I too, am missing the death of my 2G Grandfather--the family roamed all over Wisconsin, so I have no clue to even start, and what's worse? The last name is Johnson. Hmmm. Good luck to you!

Gosh, JoAnne, with a last name like Johnson, one would hope the parents gave their son an unusual first name. Did they? I hope you can find him! You've probably already tried the census searches at Family Search?

G'day Nancy... welcome to Alona's Challenge. I completed it when it first came out, was lots of fun and was puff puff puffing at the end :-) ...I so enjoy all your posts but this one interests me particularly... because my dad and his maternal ancestry are from West Riding, Yorkshire... and not too far from Bradford. Your GGGrandfather migrated to Ohio, USA and my dad to South Australia. I like that :-) Cheerio, Catherine.

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About Me

Sometimes I want to jump back in time, into the lives of my ancestors. Not to stay, of course -- too many modern conveniences I'd rather not do without -- but to meet them and watch their interactions with each other. Since I can't do that, I spend time learning about them and the times in which they lived. I look forward to meeting them. I've been seriously searching for my ancestors for nearly 8 years. I plan to continue indefinitely.
If you think we might have ancestors in common or you'd like to contact me for any other reason, please email me at myancestorsandme @ gmail.com.